Intermediate awning-roller support.



J. B. BAKER.

INTERMEDIATE AWNING ROLLER SUPPORT.

APPLICATION FILED 001212, 1911.

Patented Mar. 12, 1912.

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APPLICATION TILED 00T.12,1911.

1,020,246. Patented Mar. 12, 1912.

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UNITED STATES PATENT- crimes.

JACKSON BERNARD BAKER, OF PORTLAND, OREGON.

INTERMEDIATE AWNING-ROLLER SUPPORT.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JACKSON B. BAKER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Portland, in the county of Multnomah and State of Oregon,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in IntermediateAwning-Roller Supports; and I do declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to awnings, and. more especially to the rollersthereof; and one object of the same is to produce a support for theintermediate portion of such rollers whereby the same may be held inalinement with their end bearings and yet be permitted to rotate to drawin or pay out the awning proper.

Another object is to provide a retaining roller for the mid length ofthe main roller on which the awning is wound, pivotally connected withthe casting in such a way that it cannot become displaced until saidmain roller is pressed to the rear out of its normal and usual positionbut can then be so easily removed that a single operator can withdrawthe main roller and awning.

These and other objects are accomplished by the construction hereinaftermore fully described and claimed, and shown in the drawings wherein-Figure 1 is a front elevation of an awning roller supported in operativeposition and having my improved supporting attachment applied thereto;Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the support on an enlarged scale; Fig. 3is a front elevation thereof; Fig. 1 is a vertical transverse sectionthereof; Fig. 5 is a detail view of the spider and spindles with onelower roller thereon; Fig. 6 is a perspective detail of the tensionroller yoke.

In the drawings the letter A designates the awning proper which is woundover the main roller M and extends downward to the lower roller or poleL, although the latter is shown drawn up in Fig. 1; and the letter Udesignates an upright such as the wall of a building to which thisdevice is attached.

Coming now more particularly to the present invention, the numeral 5designates a casting having ears 6 through which take screws or bolts 7into the upright support U for holding the casting in place, and thelatter has upper and lower arms 8 and 9 pro- Specification of LettersPatent.

Application filed October 12, 1911.

Patented Mar. 12, 1912. Serial No. 654,221.

jecting forward from its body portion 5 as shown. The lower arm has aneye 10 in which is journaled a stub-bearing 11. at the lower end of aspider 12 which carries four spindles 13 on which are journaled fourrollers 14 of equal size, these rollers being held thereon by split pins15 or other devices, and the stub shaft being similarly held within theeye 10 as shown at 16. Said rollers 1 1 are about twice as long as theirdiameter, and preferably rounded oil" on their corners as seen in Fig.2, and by preference these and all other parts of the device areentirely of metal treated with paint or galvanized so as to preventrusting and prevent injury to the roller and the canvas of the awningitself. The spider 12 is of such size that the four spindles 13 projectfrom it sufficiently far to clear the lower arm 9 of the casting 5 eventhough the spider may turn slightly on its stub shaft, and the front andrear rollers are spaced from each other as best seen in Fig. 2.

The upper arm 8 of the casting 5 is provided in its upper edge with atransverse notch 20 which is made oval lengthwise of the arm and has arestricted mouth 20 opening out the top of the arm; and in this notch isloosely engaged the cross bar 21 of a yoke 22 which cross bar is madeoval longitudinally of the yoke and stands across the upper end of aslot 21 therein as best seen in Fig. 6. \Vhen the cross bar engages thenotch the slot stands astride the arm 8 as seen in Fig. 3 and thelongest diameter of the cross bar is in line with the mouth 20 of thenotch so that the entire yoke can be lifted out of engagement therewith;but if the yoke should be swung upward and forward it cannot bedisengaged because the length of the slot 21 from the cross bar 21 tothe low-er or outer end 22 of the slot is less than the distance betweenthe notch 20 and the outer extremity 8 of the arm 8.

The yoke is forked at its lower end, and the arms 23 of the fork areprovided with eyes through which passes a pin or bolt 24. on which ismounted a single roller 25 also preferably rounded off a little on itscorners and which stands above the space between the lowermost rollersas indicated in Fig. t and may be a little longer than any one of them.The length of the yoke from its pivotal point 20 to its pin 24, plus aradius of the roller 25, is such that when the upper or main roller M isnot in place this presser roller 25 can drop down between the upper andlower arms 8 and 9 of the casting 5 and will rest against. one of therear rollers as seen in Fig. 3; but on the other hand when the mainroller M is placed within and passes through this device (itsextremities being mounted in bearings not shown in this case as theyform no part of the present invention) the presser roller 25 is raisedas shown in Fig. 2 and rests upon the awning A where it reaches from themain roller M to the lower roller or pole L, and as the former isrotated to wind up the awning the roller 25 acts as a belt tightener andspreads the awning tightly at its center over such roller.

A striking feature of this invention consists in the fact that if theupper or main roller be long or large and heavy or if the workman findsthat it sags between its extremities, he can set the casting 5 higher upon the upright or wall U so that the rollers 14 will touch the mainroller when the latter is stripped of its awning A; and as the latteraccumulates on the roller M the presser roller 25 will rise as will beseen. Obviously the weight of the lower roller L draws down the awningwhen the main roller is rotated in a reverse direction. Over the wholemay be a hood H to cover the main roller and awning when the latter isdrawn up and protect it from the elements. When the main roller has oncebeen placed within this device as seen in Fig. 2, it cannot be removedbecause the end 22 of the slot 21 in the fork strikes under the arm 8 asthere indicated; but there is an extremely simple way by which it can beremoved by one operator. That is to say, first the main roller ispressed back upon the rearmost of the lower rollers 14:, so that theyoke may hang pendant as seen in Fig. 3, then this yoke is raised sothat the oval cross bar 21 passes out of the mouth 2O of the notch 20,and then the entire yoke with the upper or presser roller 25 is movedfor ward so that the slot 21 passes oif the upper arm 8 and this part ofthe mechanism is entirely disconnected, and thereafter the main roller Mcan be removed in a manner which will be clear. To restore the parts totheir original position, a reversal of this operation is necessary, andit is obvious that the operation can be performed by one person who canthus either remove the upper or main roller or restore it to position.

I do not limit myself to the exact details further than as set forthbelow, and changes in details may be made without departing from thespirit of my invention.

What is claimed as new is:

1. The herein described intermediate awning roller support comprising acasting secured to an upright and having upper and lower arms whereofthe uppermost is notched in its upper edge and the lowermost has avertical eye, a spider having a depending stub-shaftjournaled in saideye and provided with laterally projecting spindles carrying a series oflower rollers spaced from each other, and a yoke whose center isremovably mounted in said notch and whose extremities are connected by abolt carrying an upper roller, a radius of the latter plus the length ofsaid yoke being such that the upper roller may pass above the forwardlower rollers and rest against the rearmost lower rollers.

2. The herein described intermediate awning roller support comprising acasting secured to an upright and having upper and lower arms whereofthe uppermost is notched in its upper edge, a series of lower rollerscarried by the lower arm, and a yoke whose center is removably mountedin said notch and whose extremities are connected by a bolt carrying anupper roller, a radius of the latter plus the length of said yoke beingsuch that the upper roller may pass above the forward lower rollers andrest against the rearmost lower rollers.

3. The herein described intermediate awning roller support comprising acasting secured to an upright and having upper and lower arms whereofthe uppermost has in its upper edge a transverse notch with a mouthopening out the top of this arm and of less width than the horizontaldiameter of the notch, a series of lower rollers carried by the lowerarm, an upper or pressure roller adapted to coact with said lowerrollers to retain the main awning roller in place, a yoke having a forkat its lower end between whose arms the pressure roller is journaled, anoval cross bar at its upper end whose longest diameter stands lengthwiseof the yoke and whose shortest diameter is less than the width of saidmouth, and a slot in its body whose length from its inner end to saidcross bar is less than the length of the upper casting-arm from itsnotch to its outer extremity, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

JACKSON BERNARD BAKER.

Witnesses: i

C. B. LUCAS, L. E. TURNBOW.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

